The Flaxseed Pathfinder Lodge: Explore, Report, Cooperate!

Game Master Redelia

I've done one PFS 1e PbP and am currently in a second. Are we supposed to roll for boons? I never saw it mentioned in either game but I thought I heard or read we're supposed to.

On another note, in 2e PFS, the GM is supposed to award a Hero Point every now & then. About 1 per hour in a physical game. I know timing isn't possible in PbP, but, maybe do it during or after a combat. I've never seen HP's awarded in the 7 PbP games I've played so far.

I've done one PFS 1e PbP and am currently in a second. Are we supposed to roll for boons? I never saw it mentioned in either game but I thought I heard or read we're supposed to.

Boons are rolled randomly by the volunteer coordinators when the table is reported. The GM does not handle OSP rewards at all, just reporting.

While we are having this discussion...

If someone says "Could a GM run a table of X" and then a GM picks it up and runs it (with recruitment on the boards here) does that count as Open recruitment?

Because that happens quite a bit, and I can see arguments both ways.

1: Yes - it is FCFS, and the first player just grabs a seat before the GM does.
2: No - a table can't exist without the GM, so running it this way, the person doing the requesting is kind of "reserving" a seat.

I'm really hoping this falls into the "It's fine" category, as the mechanism seems to be within the general intent of what the OSP is about, but I do acknowledge it is also an edge case.

^Unfortunately, games run as a request don't count, even if the other remaining seats are open to anyone.

Let me see if I can answer as many questions as I can. As many have said already. Here is the criteria set in place for the Online Support Program.

OSP Information

Only games ran online via Virtual Tabletop (VTT) or Play-by-Post (PbP) qualify for the OSP. (At an official online Lodge)

Qualifying games must be publicly recruited games open to everyone.

Games ran during online conventions, or other boon supported events, do not qualify for the OSP.

Qualifying games must use the appropriate Online Support Program event name and number so that stats can be recorded and reported to the Organized Play Foundation on a regular basis. Games not using these event numbers do not count for OSP credit.

The games must be ran on one of our official online Lodges and must be recruited publicly. Whether that is first-come, first-serve or using a lottery sort of system.

All seats must be given the same opportunity. There is no half open recruitment rule. No reserved seats, even if looking to run a game as a request. If you are reserving a seat for someone then it needs to be reported underneath your own event number.

These are the guidelines set from above to allow us to use this program. As for auditing, it is not a negative thing to set an unfriendly tone as nearly all of our events are audited in a way, including our conventions. This is to make sure the boons and reporting go out correctly.

As Tyranius stated, these are the guidelines we've been given per Tonya and the Online RVC.

So it sounds like the eight sessions I am about to run for two separate teams of 5 will have to be reported under my own event due to it starting out as for a couple specific players. That's disappointing for all the boon opportunities they will miss.

Looks like I will have to be careful in how I go about recruiting in the future.

I think the advantage of OSP is being whittled away, but it's still there and I would hate to deny players the chance for boons.

That said, I don't think I've ever got one, and I've had no indication than any of my players have ever won a boon from it.

Do we know what the boon chance is? 10% like in conventions, or is it lower?

Looking at it, there is no problem running a game by request provided you do not reserve a seat for the person who requested it.

I would rather it was legal to reserve that seat, but provided you don't then it looks like it can be submitted for OSP.

Fair point!

It just feels a bit odd having someone ask for a game, someone else agreeing to run it, and then possibly the person requesting the game missing out.

I just had a look through my reporting for the last year or so. It looks like most of my playing is in GD type events, and most other GMs don't use the online regional reporting.

Since last March I've reported ten tables, and been only in three other tables that reported via the online region. But been at fifteen other online tables that didn't report via the region or via an event.

Yes, this is another impediment to getting data on how much online play there really is.

I don't have a horse in this race, but I'm curious:

Does running a game solely for new players (whether that is PbP or PFS in general) count as an "open" game? No seats reserved, posted in an online lodge, etc., you just specifically ask for new players.

It says they have to be open to everyone. If you put restrctions on who can join that isn’t open to everyone,

The lawful evil approach: PM everyone you want to join with the exact time you're going to post the recruitment thread and make sure they all sign up in the first 30 seconds, then choose FCFS.

*smug grin*

Don't listen to that jerk. Lobby the OSP to make reasonable exceptions for recruitment done in good faith, or change the rules. Not allowing people to make new player tables is bafflingly counterproductive.

*steals the devil's pitchfork and disappears*

The rules were put in place for a reason, and they can be changed to be the most productive.

*politely asks for the pitchfork back and returns it*

The crowds at my inauguration were huge!

Does running a game solely for new players (whether that is PbP or PFS in general) count as an "open" game? No seats reserved, posted in an online lodge, etc., you just specifically ask for new players.

OSP is set in place to be open and fair to everyone.

@Watery Soup- Love all of the angelic shoulder whispers :) I am in agreement. There are several things that certainly make more sense and would certainly be a lot nicer. All of these talking points come up in our VO chats and we will continue to bring them up.

Announcement

The official announcement for Gameday IX will be coming down the pipeline soon but I wanted to get a head start of GM submissions for the two specials we will be running. This is to ensure the GM's are identified before the early player sign ups open up.

So if you would like to GM one of the two specials please fill out the form below. The cut off date for these submissions will be 29 July 2020.

The two specials being ran are:

Finally, my special GMing will be complete.

The Specials are very faced paced and as the GM you would need to help keep the pace.

I'm pretty new to PbP/online gaming. Is "faced paced" a PbP term?

PbP can take upwards of 4-6 months to complete, with maybe only one or two posts a day. The specials are scheduled on a time limit, usually of two months or so. (The length of the convention slot, mimicking the hours that in person slots take.) It is common to see multiple back and forth posts every day as the tables work through encounters.

Probably meant to say 'fast paced' but otherwise TOZ answered the question quite well! Specials do require a more rapid posting pace from both GM and players than a regular PbP game, lest the table fall behind.

I completely missed the typo. XD

Myself and 3 other players are partway through book 1 of Rise of the Runelords. Our GM has been AWOL for about a month. We are level 2, exploring the dungeon, and would like to continue with a new GM. Whether someone wants to come on board for just book 1 and see how it goes from there, or finish out the whole thing.

Our characters are fairly vanilla; slayer, paladin, oracle, and rogue/wizard, built with 4d6 for ability scores, no feat taxes, and background skills.

Any takers?

@ Lady Ladille & TOZ: Ah. Fast paced makes much more sense. Ok, thank you!

And corrected! Good catch. :)

And corrected! Good catch. :)

Thanks. I was like "faced paced"? "Is that some sort of FaceTime PbP term?" Lol.

It certainly beats "face paste".

It certainly beats "face paste".

Or getting your face beat to a paste!

It also beats 'faceroll' as that maneuver won't serve anyone well in PbP :3

IT HURTS EVERY TIME

*facepalm*

*face-paste-palm*

*face-paste-palm*

Pretty sure my kids did that once.

roll4initiative wrote:

*face-paste-palm*

Pretty sure my kids did that once.

Daddy! My hand is stuck to my face!

Lol!!!

As a teacher with young children (ages 4-10), I've never seen any kids put glue on their faces.

However, when I worked in a junior kindergarten classroom, we had these carpet circles that stuck on with pretty strong velcro. Well, one of our girls that thought she was funny put it on her head, in her very long hair. Turns out, velcro very easily sticks to hair and is basically impossible to get off without losing some hair. She didn't do that again.

Face-paced? That's when the party's bard uses Triple Time!

Quick question.

For the next game day, they will be running the PFS1 #7-00 Sky Key Solution special.
Is that one of those scenarios where you need to have completed some other scenarios to get all the rewards?

No. It's actually fairly standalone from my recall.

While I (believe) some of the setup for Sky Key Solution will make more sense plot-wise if you've played certain Season 6 scenarios, it's not a requirement.

Kool, thanks.

Are we not to post to recruitment threads until August 12?

You can post the link onto the recruitment sheet but I would not start actively recruiting until the 12th. On the 12th begin openly recruiting away!

Proposed GM scenario swap (to be played after Gameday IX):

Last year, I played PSS 10-05 Mysteries under Moonlight, Part 1: Testament of Souls with my arcanist, but have not yet had the chance to play PSS 10-07, Mysteries under Moonlight, Part 2: The Howling Dance. My arcanist is now level 7, and I have to bench him to avoid leveling out of completing the pair.

Rather than wait for the scenario to come up, I propose an exchange. Have you played part 1 of a multi-part scenario set, but not part 2? Or parts 1 and 2, but not part 3? I will GM the scenario you're missing, at the appropriate subtier for your character, here on the Paizo boards. In return, you agree to run Mysteries under Moonlight, Part 2 at high subtier for my arcanist Garduk (with a second seat reserved for another player who was at the same table for part 1). As I said above, we wouldn't run either of these scenarios until after the Gameday that's about to start is over.

If you're interested, please post here or PM me.

Hello Flaxseeders,

Got a PFS admin question for you.

Say you GM a higher-than-first-level sanctioned module/AP instalment which provides the normal 3xp, 4 PP, whatever gold.

Assuming you can apply that to a First level PFS PC, does that PC get the full 3xp, 4 PP and 500gp x 3?

Or is it only 1 xp, 2 PP, 500 gp for the whole module/AP instalment?

Full XP, PP, and the reduced GP.

A GM can assign credit for running an adventure in the same ways a player can, and must follow the same rules as a player when applying credit to a character.

If the player is playing a non-1st-level pregenerated character, he may choose instead to apply this Chronicle sheet to a 1st-level character by reducing this value to 500 gp (or 250 gp for the slow advancement track) for completing a scenario or 1,398 gp (or 699 gp for the slow advancement track) for completing a module that grants 3 XP.

This character of mine is a patriotic "Quick" citizen of Geb (and the fact that that may disturb or bewilder some other Pathfinders only stokes her enthusiasm); I was just wondering, can anyone suggest (while remaining able to take "No" for an answer) feats or items (magical or otherwise) that would suit/advertise such sentiment for that country well (I've already got the Friend of the Dead Regional trait)?

The following rules take effect immediately and will be included in future iterations of the Guide to Organized Play for each campaign.

For tables at levels that have pregens available. GMs can now run up to two pregenerated characters to fill a table up to the four-person minimum. The GM can control these pregens themselves or designate one or more players to control the additional character(s), so long as the player agrees to do so. This should help our smaller lodges and Society home groups participate in our program and continue firing and reporting games.

Blog (Link)

In the blog there are also rules for a hardmode for level 7+ for PFS2e and SFS.

This character of mine is a patriotic "Quick" citizen of Geb (and the fact that that may disturb or bewilder some other Pathfinders only stokes her enthusiasm); I was just wondering, can anyone suggest (while remaining able to take "No" for an answer) feats or items (magical or otherwise) that would suit/advertise such sentiment for that country well (I've already got the Friend of the Dead Regional trait)?

An...yone?

Khāṇa Tsogtsos wrote:

This character of mine is a patriotic "Quick" citizen of Geb (and the fact that that may disturb or bewilder some other Pathfinders only stokes her enthusiasm); I was just wondering, can anyone suggest (while remaining able to take "No" for an answer) feats or items (magical or otherwise) that would suit/advertise such sentiment for that country well (I've already got the Friend of the Dead Regional trait)?

An...yone?

Here are some PFS legal options. Hope this helps.

Feat: Divine Fighting Technique (Combat) (scroll down to Urgathoa's Hunger)

Armor: Ghoul Hide (this seems like the most visible/in-your-face option)

Item: Unguent of Revivification (states being more potent in Geb)

Spell: Geb's Hammer (not on the inquisitor list, so would need to obtain on a scroll or otherwise).

None of it really helps me (Ghoul Hide being medium armor, and Urgathoa's Hunger being something another character of mine who is actually scythe-proficient will be taking), but thank you for trying.

Howling Skull Armour?